Cara Bailey Fausset

Older adults talk technology: Technology usage and attitudes

Older adults (n = 113) participated in focus groups discussing their use of and attitudes about technology in the context of their home, work, and healthcare. Participants reported using a wide variety of technology items, particularly in their homes. Positive attitudes (i.e., likes) outnumbered negative attitudes (i.e., dislikes), suggesting that older adults perceive the benefits of technology use to outweigh the costs of such use. Positive attitudes were most frequently related to how the technology supported activities, enhanced convenience, and contained useful features. Negative attitudes were most frequently associated with technology creating inconveniences, unhelpful features, as well as security and reliability concerns. Given that older adults reported more positive than negative attitudes about the technologies they use, these results contradict stereotypes that older adults are afraid or unwilling to use technology. These findings also highlight the importance of perceived benefits of use and ease of use for models of technology acceptance. Emphasizing the benefits of technology in education and training programs may increase future technology adoption.

Examining social media use among older adults

Social media is a powerful tool that can connect family and friends across long distances as well as link people with similar interests. Social media has been widely adopted by younger adults, but older adults have been less likely to use such applications. A survey of 142 older adults (Mage=72 years, SD=11; range: 52-92) living in the metropolitan Atlanta area was conducted to understand the characteristics of older adults who do and do not use Facebook, a popular and wide-spread social media application. The present study examined the relationship between Facebook use and loneliness, social satisfaction, and confidence with technology. Demographic relationships were also examined, such as gender and age. Fifty-nine participants (42%) identified themselves as current Facebook users; 83 participants (58%) were not Facebook users. Non-Facebook users were significantly older (Mage= 75.3 years) than Facebook users (Mage= 66.5 years). Counter to expectations, there was not a significant difference in loneliness between Facebook users and non-users for this sample. However, Facebook users did score higher on assessments of social satisfaction and confidence with technology than did non-users. These preliminary results suggest that many older adults do use Facebook and they primarily use it to stay connected with family. As adults enter into older adulthood, maintaining social connectedness may become more difficult due to mobility limitations, chronic diseases, and other age-related issues, thus decreasing physical connectedness with friends, family, and community. For these reasons, social media may begin to play a more active role in keeping this population socially connected. Therefore, understanding the factors that influence social media use in older adults is becoming more critical.

Challenges to Aging in Place: Understanding Home Maintenance Difficulties

Age-related declines in capabilities may compromise older adults’ ability to maintain their homes, threatening successful aging in place. Structured interviews were conducted with 44 independently living older adults (mean age = 76.1, standard deviation = 4.7) to discuss difficult home maintenance tasks and how they managed those tasks. Solutions to managing difficulties were categorized as person-related or environment-related. The majority (85%) of responses were person-related solutions. An understanding of the specific challenges that older adults face in maintaining their homes can guide redesign efforts and interventions to effectively support older adults’ desire to age in place.

Older Adults' Training Preferences for Learning to Use Technology.

Older adults may benefit from using technology in their everyday lives. However, adults over 65 may need more training than their younger counterparts given they have had less experience with technology. In this study, 113 adults between the ages of 65 and 85 participated in focus group interviews discussing their training needs and preferences for technology items used in the home. Participants expressed an interest in receiving additional training, particularly for specific tasks. Participants also discussed preferences for various characteristics of training, such as who should conduct the training and for their preferred method of training. One of the most frequently discussed preferences was for self-training using text materials, such as a manual.

Older Adults’ Use of and Attitudes toward Activity Monitoring Technologies:

Self-management of health is becoming increasingly important in today’s healthcare climate. Activity monitoring technologies have the potential to support health self-management by tracking, storing, compiling, and providing feedback about an individual’s engagement in movement activities. Older adults represent a fast growing segment of the population who may benefit from such technologies. To understand how to facilitate technology acceptance and adoption, more information is needed about older adults’ attitudes and usage of such technologies. Eight older adult participants (Mage = 65.0 years; SD = 3.2; range = 61-69) used one of four activity monitoring technologies in their own homes for two weeks. Attitudes and usability issues were assessed and evaluated within a technology acceptance framework. Participants’ initial attitudes were positive, but after using the technology for two weeks, attitudes were mixed. Three participants indicated they would continue using the technology, whereas five said they would abandon the technology. These data offer insight into older adults’ use of and attitudes toward activity monitoring technologies and provide improvement opportunities for designers. The results suggest that efforts should focus on conveying the usefulness and personal benefits of activity monitoring technologies specific to older adults.

Older Adults’ Acceptance of Activity Trackers

Objective: To assess the usability and acceptance of activity tracking technologies by older adults. Method: First in our multimethod approach, we conducted heuristic evaluations of two activity trackers that revealed potential usability barriers to acceptance. Next, questionnaires and interviews were administered to 16 older adults (Mage = 70, SDage = 3.09, rangeage = 65-75) before and after a 28-day field study to understand facilitators and additional barriers to acceptance. These measurements were supplemented with diary and usage data and assessed whether and why users overcame usability issues. Results: The heuristic evaluation revealed usability barriers in System Status Visibility, Error Prevention, and Consistency and Standards. The field study revealed additional barriers (e.g., accuracy, format) and acceptance-facilitators (e.g., goal tracking, usefulness, encouragement). Discussion: The acceptance of wellness management technologies, such as activity trackers, may be increased by addressing acceptance-barriers during deployment (e.g., providing tutorials on features that were challenging, communicating usefulness).

Responding to Home Maintenance Challenge Scenarios: The Role of Selection, Optimization, and Compensation in Aging-in-Place

This study examined potential issues faced by older adults in managing their homes and their proposed solutions for overcoming hypothetical difficulties. Forty-four diverse, independently living older adults (66-85) participated in structured group interviews in which they discussed potential solutions to manage difficulties presented in four scenarios: perceptual, mobility, physical, and cognitive difficulties. The proposed solutions were classified using the Selection, Optimization, and Compensation (SOC) model. Participants indicated they would continue performing most tasks and reported a range of strategies to manage home maintenance challenges. Most participants reported that they would manage home maintenance challenges using compensation; the most frequently mentioned compensation strategy was using tools and technologies. There were also differences across the scenarios: Optimization was discussed most frequently with perceptual and cognitive difficulty scenarios. These results provide insights into supporting older adults’ potential needs for aging-in-place and provide evidence of the value of the SOC model in applied research.

Understanding aging in place for older adults: a needs analysis

A goal of many older adults is to remain in their own homes as they age (Beyond 50.05 Survey, 2005). However, a detailed assessment is lacking of the needs of older adults as they age in place. Using focus groups, twenty-six independently living older adults (mean age 78.8 years) from the Atlanta metropolitan area were asked to describe the tasks they perform to maintain their homes, as well as any difficulties they have performing these tasks. Participants described performing a wide range of tasks and focused primarily on physical difficulties. However, participants also reported solutions to manage these difficulties that fell into three broad categories: “Cessation,” “Perseverance,” and “Compensation.” These categories represent classes of opportunities for interventions that may help older adults remain independent in their homes longer. By understanding the nature of home maintenance problems older adults encounter while aging in place, interventions and redesign efforts can be more effective. These data suggest that interventions should start with answering physical issues.

Activity Monitoring Technologies and Older Adult Users: Heuristic Analysis and Usability Assessment

Older adults may benefit from using activity monitoring technologies to support health and wellness management. However, adoption of such technologies is contingent upon ease of use considerations. Age-related changes in cognitive and physical capabilities impact usability. Heuristic evaluation of two such technologies revealed important ease of use design issues that may be particularly problematic for this user group. Case studies of four older adults’ usage experiences over a two-week period revealed additional usability challenges. Human factors involvement in product development should address these issues to enable older adults to use these potentially beneficial technologies.

Older Adults’ Changes in Intent to Adopt Wellness Management Technologies

Individuals are becoming more involved in managing their own health. Health self-management technologies have the potential to help older adults remain well by promoting exercise and a good diet. However, older adults may or may not decide to adopt wellness management technologies. Adoption is a process and the intent to adopt may change over time. Sixteen older adults (8 females; Mage=70.06, SD=3.09; range=65-75) used one of two wellness management technologies (the Fitbit One or myfitnesspal.com) over a 28-day period. Initially, all participants were open or neutral to adopting their technologies. After 28 days, 12 participants intended to adopt and 4 participants did not intend to adopt. The diary data revealed that over time, adopters made more positive comments than non-adopters. Both adopters and non-adopters mentioned perceived ease of use praises and complaints, whereas only adopters mentioned praises regarding usefulness. Results are interpreted within the frameworks of the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (Venkatesh et al., 2003) and the diffusion of innovation (Rogers, 2003). Changes in intent to adopt suggest that experience is important in the adoption decision. Adoption of wellness management technologies by older adults may increase if designers attend to the perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness factors identified in this study.